An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts headed to the International Space Station today.

The launch took place from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:05 a.m. EDT, which was 2:05 in Central Asian time, aboard a Soyuz MS-02.

The crew of NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will orbit the Earth 34 times before hooking up with ISS on Friday at 5:59 a.m.

The three will spend the next four month on board and are part of the Expedition 49-50 crew for the ISS, joining three already on board, Expedition 49 Commander Anatoli Ivanishin of Roscosmos, Flight Engineers Kate Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

They will spend their time on board performing more than 250 science investigations until February. The three Expedition 49 crew members will return to Earth on Oct. 30.

After the Soyuz docking to the Poisk module Friday, the ISS crews will welcome the Orbital ATK Cygnus supply cargo flight, which launched successfully from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Monday. That will arrive Sunday with more than 5,100 pounds of supplies and science and research material.

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy fans talk about the excitement of witnessing history during their visit to Playalinda Beach, Fla. in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

SpaceX Falcon Heavy fans talk about the excitement of witnessing history during their visit to Playalinda Beach, Fla. in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy fans talk about the excitement of witnessing history during their visit to Playalinda Beach, Fla. in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

SpaceX Falcon Heavy fans talk about the excitement of witnessing history during their visit to Playalinda Beach, Fla. in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

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The Florida's Space Coast 2018 forecast is expected to be one of the more important in recent memory thanks to companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX.

The Florida's Space Coast 2018 forecast is expected to be one of the more important in recent memory thanks to companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX.

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The crowd cheers at Playalinda Beach in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, during the launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

The crowd cheers at Playalinda Beach in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, during the launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

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The SpaceX Falcon Heavy performed a static fire of all 27 of its engines at Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018.

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy performed a static fire of all 27 of its engines at Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018.

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While in the landed configuration for the last time before arriving on Mars, NASA's InSight lander was commanded to deploy its solar arrays to test and verify the exact process that it will use on the surface of the Red Planet.

While in the landed configuration for the last time before arriving on Mars, NASA's InSight lander was commanded to deploy its solar arrays to test and verify the exact process that it will use on the surface of the Red Planet.

Coming up later will be a Japanese cargo craft delivery of batteries in December, a SpaceX resupply mission (its 10th) and two Russian Progress resupply missions.

More than 200 people from 18 countries have continuously lived on board the ISS for more than 15 years.